Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-10-21

struck up warm friendship. He was
bright, bold eyed boy, strong, rough and
unimaginative-a true young Briton.
"When I had finished my story this
young gentleman eyes sparkled.
owe must kill the brute, Tom, he
said with decision.
cat first l shrank from the idea and
suggested the adoption of some milder
measures, but Master Harry insisted, de-
claring stoutly that the only way to get
rid of a cat was to kill it.
"In the end my friend overcame my
scruples. l consented to the death of the
white cat and we discussed the modus
operandi. Children are savagesp'
Tom paused here, turned his face
farther into the gloom, and cleared his
throat before proceeding.
"Several methods of killing the white
cat were suggested, - he continued, speaL
ing with grim deliberation, as though he
were deriving savage pleasure in scours-
ing himself. 1--WE would drown her in
the sea- but that would have necessitated
great walk along the coast to escape
observation. The same objection applied
to the plan of throwing her from the cliffs.
cat last Harry hit upon what we con-
sidered an excellent idea. His father had
pistol which he kept in his port
manteau. Fortunately, he was accus-
toned to leave the portmanteau open.
The arrangement was that in the after
noon Harry would contrive to secure The
pistol Then we would seek the white
cat in the neighborhood of my aunts
cottage, and, if luck attended us, we
would carry her to field at the back and
shoot her. Nice boys, weren't WEI
"Luck did attend us-luek in the
shape of some mischievous cruel imp of
darkness. Harry managed to steal the
pistol-a revolver it was, with five cham
bers, all loaded. I curse his father to this
day for being such careless IDIOT.
Harry, who was very business like,
brought an old sack with him. We
found our prey, after long ses h,
sleeping in the warm sun on low Il
at the rear of the cottage. She evidt
belonged to one of the neighbors, but .i
ownership was never discovered. E-.Iy
bounced upon her before she could es-
cape, and after a short but sharp strug-
gle, in which we were both severely
scratched, we had her secure in the
sack. Harry tied up the mouth with
strong string.
II had hung back at first with sort
of shame-a faint sense of the brutality
of our behavior. But the struggle had
driven all this away. The native devil
ry of the boy was ablaze l was mi
GUS, exultant; l drowned the hit us
muffled sounds that came from the sack
with wild laughter; I danced round the
wriggling, writing mass, and when we
had dragged it into the field l snatched
the pistol from Harry, who was very
quiet, to have the first shot. fired
kneeling close. 1t was the first time
had fired pistol but felt no shock.
remember a strange, piteous shrek, and
the sack dancing weirdly in front of me.
fired again. and remember low graf
ing wall, and the sack being troubled foI
a moment and then still.
Harry took the pistol from me, con-
tinued Harding, wiping his forehead
land went home. l went on to the
sands and tried to play with tile boy
there, but couldn't. was feeling hor.
ribly sick. The voice of the white ca
buzzed in my ears. The heaving sacl
bobbed about between my eyes and the
sunlight
cat supper my aunt noticed that
looked ill and made me swallow some
medicine. When l had crept to my
room sat down in the darkness near tn,
open window to try and cool my head
which felt like splitting. But it was a
my heart that the chief agony lay-th'
agony of an unbearable burden, tin
crushing, suffocating weight of shame, o
fear, of remorse. Can a child know thes
things? you may ask. l answer that
did; but l was not then a child.
crime had aged me. l was an old man;
murderer! Perhaps l was unlike othe
boys. l felt that I would have givel
anything, suffered anything, to have I'm
done what had done-torture, or eve
death.
Il sat for a long time, and at last, sic
and dizzy, l slowly undressed. Then
thought, with a faint CLEAN of hope
of my prayers. / sank down b
the bed, first sitting, then kneeling, an
tried; but nothing my mother had taugf
me would meet such a case as that. A
last few tears came and opened a wa
of escape for the fearful weight that wa
sitting me. Soon l was sobbing Wild
and unchecked, and beating my W,
face with my open hands. Once in m
paroxysm stretched my arms over I'll
bed; they encountered something soft an
strange. sprang to my feet in ma
terror, and rent the silence of the cottae
with piercing shrek. My aunt hurrie
into the room with candle, and Their
coiled up in the center of the viii
quilt, which was stained with her bloot
lay the body of the white cat.
1.-The fastening of the sack had becon
loosened in her struggle; she had escape
and crawled to her favorite resting pla.
to die.
''What 1 have told you," conclude
Tom, rising to go, sis the solemn trutl
30 help me heavenl'
, Should this reach the eye of Thom
Harding, whose story / have taken IL
liberty of telling to the world for Il
, sake Of its moral, wish him to know tn
! there is now no just cause or impedime
| L = 80 ~ - 7 Il.